Advertising is all about influencing people - persuading them to take the actions we want, whether that is choosing a particular brand of food, audio equipment, jewellery, airline, toothpaste, picking up a phone to call, filling up a form on the net, or filling a digital coupon to be, or visiting a website. Efficient sales and marketing professionals are ones that communicate well.
n You ask any business organization a question: “Do you have a website?” Answer would be: “Yes, yes, we have one, www.xyz.com”. But, even the competitor company has one. So, let us understand the new way of marketing using the internet technology called ‘Digital Marketing’ or commonly known as ‘Social Media Marketing’. IT professionals call it Web 2.0 technology. Call it what you like. In simple words, it is new technique of promoting your product or services directly to your target audience.
n Some organizations have used this technology effectively to market their product or services. However, not many marketing professionals have quite understood the immense potential of the same, nor they have learnt the risks involved with the social media web sites, due to the lack of training.
n The true power of social media comes from the ability to create a community around your company and create digital conversations with your customers and clients.
The truth about the online space is that people are engaging with the medium in different and evolving ways, breaking the traditional rules established in the analogue environment.
This ever-changing landscape is certainly one of the reasons why marketers and researchers are enthralled with “digital.” The possibilities to engage, even to start a two-way conversation with, the consumer seem endless. This may be why “digital” is the only space where advertising spend is growing.
Despite its growth in importance, “digital” is still a complex, even confusing, medium for marketers. Because the space moves so quickly, there is a risk that by the time a marketer learns something relevant, it has become obsolete. A key
challenge to learn, ironically, has been measurement. Isn’t online the “most measured media”? But, the metrics that are everywhere that marketers get, like click-through, interaction and engagement rates, and unique visitors, do not equal the insights that marketers want. The surprising truth is that marketers are still struggling to evaluate the basic success of their digital campaigns.
